Chapter 11: Unicorn Blood

She froze.

Filch.

"Ms Potter, Ms Potter, and Mr Malfoy out of bed late at night I see? You'll get punished for this!" he exclaimed, sounding downright triumphant at their rule-breaking.

Ivy glanced around, considering her options. Stay here, and allow herself to get detention? Bit of a safe bet, could she do any better? Memory charm… no, Dumbledore was incredibly well known for his charm-breaking ability. Knock him out while retaining his memories? Oh, don't be stupid, Ivy, he's Filch, he'll hold on to any possibility of getting students expelled…

"Come with me quietly," he growled, as Mrs Norris appeared around a corner, "and I won't wake up the whole castle,"

She cussed silently. While Filch was the most obvious squib she had met since the Abbey sisters (long story to do with time travel and 1666), it was almost as though he was able to read minds. She looked at him curiously.

"Fine," she finally said, after a silence which seemed to stretch out for hours, but in reality was barely more than twenty seconds, "We'll come quietly. But we'll go straight to Dumbledore, thanks,"

Filch stared at her angrily, but, after taking a few half-hearted glances down at her trouser pocket, he agreed. As the four of them made their way towards Dumbledore's office, both Rose and Draco questioned her, whispering as quietly as they could.

"Really, Ivy?" asked Draco, "Just giving in to Filch? The madman wants us expelled!"

"Well it's a good job he has no authority in Hogwarts then!" hissed Ivy, "Do you really think Dumbledore wouldn't be able to break a memory charm? If I hadn't, he would've told McGonagall, or worse, Snape! At least Dumbledore doesn't make a ruckus because of rule-breaking!"

"All the same," huffed Rose, "You could've sold out Theo! Imagine the smirk being wiped off his face for once!"

"Any detention given to me by the staff of Hogwarts," whispered Ivy, as they walked past a small band of ghosts, who watched them walk past distastefully, "would be immeasurably worse with Theo there to haunt me!"

They approached an ugly gargoyle carrying a lance and wearing an expression of what seemed to be fury. Once upon a time, this was the office of Godric Gryffindor, though back then, it was merely a doorway. There had been another door opposite this which had been Slytherin's office, but this room was nowhere to be found.

"Sherbert lemon," said Filch, barely containing the glee in his voice. Immediately, the gargoyle's expression shifted to a blank one, and it jumped aside, with much more grace than would be expected of a creature so ugly.

As it jumped forward, two columns of stone, barely noticeable alongside the wall, opened inwards, revealing a tall spiral staircase made of highly polished oak wood. Shimmering, golden railings surrounding it, and the walls alongside it were decorated with the occasional painting, signifying an important moment in the history of Hogwarts. Four people, who Ivy recognised as the founders, sat around a table, as Godric lifted his hat off his head, and performed some spells.

Ah, thought Ivy, perhaps that was how the sorting hat came to be!

She fully expected Filch to immediately start climbing the numerous stairs, perhaps calling behind his back for the three of them to hurry up, as though they were not walking at their normal speed. Instead, he climbed four steps, and stopped. Bewildered, Ivy, Rose and Draco took the three steps behind him. Instantly, as though by magic, which it was, it started spinning and bringing them upwards, so that they didn't need to walk at all.

It was, Ivy thought, an impressive little bit of magic, and certainly an upgrade from the stony stairs of just over a thousand years prior. Had the circumstances been different, she may have commented on this to her friends, minus the comparison to the previous millennium, of course. Unfortunately for her, she was in no mood to.

Filch knocked several times on the door, once they had finally reached the top. The door was made of spruce wood, painted ruby, with the result being a very deep red, contrasting to the nearly white wall around it. It had first been created as the door to Godric's office and private quarters, which was commonly used as a meeting point for the four founders. The door had been replaced several times throughout its history: upon installation, it resembled the wall itself, and would need to be opened with a lot of force for anything to happen. It had been replaced in 1542, due to the paint surrounding the door falling away, now sporting a stone design, painted baby blue. Sometime before 1967, it was then replaced with a design similar to the one before her now, and when that was destroyed in a fire, the governors decided to stick with the new style, though they added a brass knocker in the shape of a gryphon.

It was, quite literally, a gryphon door.

Draco rolled his eyes, evidently having thought of the same pun as her.

"Come in!" called Dumbledore's voice, weary and sleepy, yet entirely awake.

Filch opened the door inwards, and, to the surprise of nobody, Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, looking through documents and files and nodding in his direction, not bothering to look up from his work. He was wearing purple robes and a corresponding hat, and his long, white beard was tucked neatly into his belt, where it disappeared below the table. The room around him was tall, and round, covered head to toe with paintings of the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, all, apparently, sleeping.

"Yes Argus?" he asked, though Ivy could not tell how he knew it was Filch, given that he was still staring at the files, and he wouldn't be anywhere near his peripheral vision.

"I found these three wandering the halls in the night," he muttered, in a sharp tone which did not entirely mask the glee in his eyes.

"Oh," Dumbledore, looking up at him, "Did you now?"

"The Potter girls and the Malfoy brat," he said, gesturing to them unnecessarily.

"I would rather you referred to him as the Malfoy boy, Argus, or, I am sure he would not mind you calling him Draco,"

"Very well, the Potter girls and- Draco," he very nearly spat, "Regardless of names, I found them wandering the-"

"Halls at night. I heard you the first time," said Dumbledore, patiently. "They can have their detention with Hagrid, before you ask, he needs help with some business in the forest,"

"Forest?" asked Draco, suddenly looking tense, "Not the forbidden-"

"For Christ's sake, Malfoy!" exclaimed Rose, restraining herself from punching him, "How many other forests are there around and about Hogwarts?"

Draco shot a dirty look at the floor.

…

One Week Later,

The dark, ominous night sky framed the ground below it. An enormous castle was situated somewhere which could have been described as the middle of nowhere, had there not been an enormous castle in it. The grounds which surrounded it, a lake, several small fields, a forest, and an open plain, were near silent, and were illuminated by none of the friendly lights which could be spied inside the school. Instead, the only lights to be seen were the moonlight, and one coming from the side of the castle, from a small hut.

This hut belonged to Rubeus Hagrid, a half giant, and keeper of keys, whom Ivy had met a few times prior. He waved at her in a friendly fashion as she made her way towards the forbidden forest, along with Draco Malfoy, Rose Potter, and Argus Filch, who was wearing a slight frown. He wasn't, Ivy thought, glancing over at Draco, the only one.

"Good evenin'!" called Hagrid as they approached. In fact, it was eleven o'clock at night on a Saturday, and it would have been amiss of anyone without Hagrid's sense of safety to call it a particularly 'good' one at that.

"Grow up," Ivy heard Filch mutter.

"So!" said Hagrid, the moment Filch had disappeared off to the castle, and he didn't sound nearly as cheerful now, "So. I think there's somefin' you lot should see,"

He led them over to his hut, and walked round the far edge, pointing at the tall grass. There, lying in a squashed portion, was the unmistakable, headless, pure white body of a unicorn. Its blood was seeping slowly onto the blades of grass closest to it, staining them silver.

Ivy, Rose, and Draco all stared at it in shock. Rose was the first to speak.

"Who did this?" she asked, not daring to look away.

"I don' know," said Hagrid, grabbing a crossbow he had hung up on the side of his house. "It's been happening since the school year began. A whole bunch of dead unicorns turning up in the forest whenever I explore. All the blood drained from their corpses. This one only 'as this much left cause I found it while the killer was still drinking. Disappeared in a flash, o' course…"

"Drinking?" asked Draco, who was looking ready to throw up. "You don't mean… the blood?" he said the last two words in a whisper, and Hagrid answered gruffly.

"Yeah. I do. You aren't trying to find the culprit!" he exclaimed, quickly, "You'll just be gathering blackberries, but- it's good to be aware, y'know?"

They walked, in complete silence, towards the forest, with Hagrid's boarhound, Fang, trailing behind them.

"Right," said Hagrid, carefully glancing left and right. Rose n' me'll go this way, and you, Malfoy and Fang'll go that way," he said, addressing Ivy. "Careful, alright?"

"Right," said Ivy, walking in the direction he pointed, picking blackberries as she went. After a while, Draco spoke.

"Where do you reckon the- thing drinking the blood will be?" asked Draco, as quietly as he could.

"No idea," she whispered, shivering. "Just focus on the berries!"

They walked on in near silence, straining their ears to find anything they could. Until…

She gasped as she turned a corner, in spite of herself. There, on the ground, was a hooded black figure, drinking the blood of a dead unicorn thirstily. It looked up upon their arrival, and without any hesitation, began moving slowly towards them.

"Oh fu-!" she yelled, as loud as she could, when there was suddenly the sound of hooves galloping towards the clearing where they were standing, and the hooded man jumped, and slinked away, clutching the back of their head as they went.

There, standing in the clearing, was a centaur, such as Ivy had seen once before. He had the lower body of a horse, but the torso of a naked man. He had a black beard and flowing hair, and he was clutching a bow as he watched the strange creature disappear among the trees.

"Are you foals okay?" he asked, gruffly, still keeping his eye on it as it clambered away over tree stumps.

"Y-yeah," said Ivy, standing up. Her hair flowed slightly in the wind, revealing her lightning scar. She looked up at the centaur and smiled, "I'm okay,"

"Me too," said Draco, who seemed unable to stand up.

For some reason, the centaur, who introduced himself as Firenze, was now staring at Ivy's forehead.

"Can I… help you?" she asked, nervously.

"Miss… Potter?" he whispered.

"Yeah?" she answered, "But what does that have to do with-?"

"Ask them!" he said, urgently, "Ask the four! Who would be so desperate for life so as to drink the blood of a unicorn?"

And he hurried away, as quickly as he could.

"The four?" asked Draco.

"Yes," said Ivy, looking after Firenze, raising an eyebrow, "The four,"